Sabre Discontinued

I have had mine for about 50+ jumps and I love it. I had a few hard openings but put a domed slider on it and now they are perfect everytime. It's a blast to fly and lands perfectly, super forgiving if you wait a little late to start flareing.

Yeah, like the most novice skydivers in Finland, my very first main is Sabre 150. DOM January 1991, so this one is a classic.

Many people have been complaining that Sabre openings are hard, but haven't really had one that hard during my 70 jumps with the canopy.

Usually it opens on-heading and quite often end-cells are closed. Few pulls from rear risers and it flies beautifully!

For a novice like me, it's easy enough to land safely and I've been packing it like I packed the Student Navigators, having no problems at all with the openings.

When I deploy, it takes about 200 meters for it to open fully, which is just fine for me. Quick enough, but not too quick.

I'm very happy with my Sabre, got it with very reasonable price (300 euros) and I'm planning to have it at least till next Spring. Then I might give Sabre2 a try, but till then, I'll fly my beautiful, trusted and pink colored Sabre! =)

My first landing under a sabre 135 was perfect. I had enough speed to come straight in and still had some good glide. It turns fast and its really really fun up in the air. Great openings if you carefull, bad openings if your careless. I would recomend this canopy to all whose looking for a canopy without the "frills and bells"

I have 2 sabre 190's and love them. Very responsive to riser inputs and a solid predictable flare. When I bought my first one my rigger and other jumpers with Sabre canopies recommended that I have a "pocket" sewn into the front of the slider and I promptly did so. I have not had any hard openings (knock on wood) and I do not roll the nose, just gently shove it into the middle of the canopy. I would reccomend one for anyone who wants an easy to fly predictable wing.

I will admit that my exsperience with a Sabre is limited (think GOD), this is a realy great flying canopy ,it lands great with plenty of flare. It is very responsive with only light toggle effort. It would be pure pleasure except, the thing will knock the way out of you. I thought that I had hit the ground for a few seconds on a couple of openings . To make this thing open soft you must be very very careful in how you pack it . Mine was a 190 with a large pocket on the slider whitch made it sniffle for about 800ft. If your like me and you let a packer pack it for you on fast paced days, you are just begging for it. If you always pack it your self you will be alright once you figure what makes it tick .

I love my sabre but it can open too fast if you don't roll the nose enough. I sometimes roll the heck out of it to ensure an average opening. If you don't roll it at all, it will pop out in a hard opening and give you whip lash! I like to re-pack mine before jumping it after I haven't used it in a week. I noticed that if I pack it at the end of a weekend, and then jump it five days later with out a re-pack, it will give a hard opening.

About me: I dont have much experience only 337 jumps. Of these 170 on my Sabre 135. My wingload on it is about 1.3
The canopy handles really well. I have always had good landings with it and it has never played tricks on me. Opens on heading, occasionally get up to 90 degree turn on opening if packed in high wind conditions. I dont have much experience with different canopies so I cant compare it to anything else, but I do love this canopy.

I started out on Mantas as a student, but wanted my own gear. I was jumping a 280 and it kept me from being able to jump if there was any wind. (not enough forward speed). My first canopy was a 193 Lightening. This is a CREW canopy designed to open quickly with low air speed right after exit. It SPANKED me hard enough to bruise my ribs and make me sore in places I didn't know I had! I guess they weren't kidding when they said not to use it for terminal openings! Rolling the nose 4-4 toward the middle tightly, pulling the slider way out the front and SLOWING as much as possible after tracking helped alot, but it was still not using the canopy for it's intended purpose. I got the opportunity to buy a Sabre 190 with less than 50 jumps on it at a good price so I bought it. This was the canopy my instructor reccomended for me. In the beginning, I had some very brisk openings and asked for advice from instructors, riggers and other jumpers that had many jumps on Sabres. The firm openings were being caused by my pack jobs. I wasn't rolling the nose or pulling out the slider. My canopy came to me with an oversized (actually appropriately sized!) slider with stainless grommets. I started to roll the nose 4-4 tightly all the way to the tabs. (the side labels were partially rolled in). This slowed my openings way down (1000 feet) but the openings still seemed too firm. I started to pull my slider out all 4 sides ("T" out front, back, and both sides) before pulling the tails around and closing and this helped alot. Next step was to try "T"ing the slider then pulling much of it way out the front. GREAT openings, buit sniveled way too long...1000-1200 feet openings. To speed up the openings I rolled the noses less and less. Soft openings and less altitude lost. My current method (which I plan on continuing with) is: packing with my lines over my shoulder (tension on lines), flake both sides, tuck outside trailing edges in to center (standard PRO pack), fold noses 4-4 one fold towards center then place gently in center of pack (do NOT push thru to back), "T" slider then pull most of slider out the front forming a pocket to catch air early, pull trailing edge by warning label up around lines and wrap tail around canopy and roll 4-5 times, lay pack GENTLY on floor and fold into bag. For stows, I use the small standard rubber bands. I have been warned that tube stows are too strong and may cause a bag lock. Rubber bands will break if they have to and allow the parachute out of the bag. I pull the lines thru the bands about 2-3 fingers and keep tension on them while moving toward the container. I do not double my bands over the lines. If they get loose, I replace them. They are VERY cheap too. When placing the bag in the container, I make sure that the extra line (12-24 inches from last rubber band to risers) is layed NEATLY in the BOTTOM of the container. Do NOT let the lines get up around the closing loop. My openings have been very consistent and on heading and take about 400-500 feet. This gives me a soft opening while not wasting too much altitude. At one point I had a problem with off heading openings because I was not consistent with how much line I was pulling thru the stows. More on one side that the other. Measuring the loop with my fingers every time put me back on heading. Every person I talked to that had suffered hard openings solved it when they put on a larger slider! Rolling the noses etc. make the openings take longer (snivel longer) but the slider size is what affected the initial opening shock the most.
As many other folks stated here, once the canopy is open it is extremely fun to fly. It has been a great all around canopy for me offering very good performance, but still being very forgiving of mistakes. One friend has over 5000 jumps and can fly any canopy he wants. His choice...even at 170 pounds... is a Sabre 190. MAN CAN HE FLY IT!!
Put on a larger slider and don't be afraid of your Sabre. Get out and enjoy it!!
Blue Skies!
Stuart

I was having lots of hard openings with a Sabre 230 (actually, at least 2 of them, both rental gear). I finally started split-rolling the nose about 5 or 6 rolls and that mostly took care of the openings.

Yesterday I jumped a Triathalon 210 for the first time... MUCH softer openings.

I've got about 500 jumps on mostly sabre 190s and 170's though Ive also jumped the 135 150 and 210. Ive had many hard openings, Three of which were severe enough to damage the canopy not to mention my body. People argue that the hard openings are due to packing technique. Whatever, The fact remains that this is a canopy that is capable of seriously injuring or even killing you if not packed perfectly.Is that the canopy you want?
Some quotes from this page. Listen to yourselves people:

“Openings were problematic at first,”

“A lot of people complain of hard openings,”

“Lots of u guys out there r trying to blame your hard Sabre openings on the pack job...”

I have approximately 1,100 total jumps on sabre 150's and sabre 135's and have
experienced a handful of rather brisk openings and 2 of them were excruciating and kept me from jumping for the rest of the day.”

“Openings are not so great. In my opinion it would be one thing if it opened hard all the time or soft all the time but it does not. Some openings are good others are not”

“Pack carefully, handle the wraped up slider as you would an atomic bomb - as thats what it is! Let the thing slip everywhere then shove in the bag; You will be sorry..”

“but about 75% of the time, I get these opening that make me flinch and tighten up every muscle in my body in fear of the opening. Most Sunday nights, when I am driving home, my neck hurts like I was in a car accident, and I have bruises on the insides of my legs that just shouldn't be there... I have tried everything- rolling the nose 4-4, tight rolling the nose together, tight rolling the tail, stowing my lines tight, etc... Nothing helps, don't know what to say about the opening, but I can't wait until I get my PISA Hornet...”

“Openings have been brisk, but I've never been slammed (although I lent my rig to a friend and she said she was).”

“I've had a very bad opening about every two or three. No matter what I did, tens of rolls everywere or no rolls, spend 1 hour and a half packing it,use the tighest rubber bands ever, it used to hit me.”

“I had an instant canopy that knocked the wind from my body. I was in such pain that all I wanted to do was land. After landing discovered the leg straps had grazed the skin from my inner thighs. The next day I was barely able to stand and the black bruising around my thighs meant I looked like I was still wearing my harness.”

“I was wacked so hard that I had a compression fracture of T6 and a cracked T12 along with a neck sprain.

“in my 90 jumps on it, I had 3 soft openings. This thing was killing me. I had it relined by PD as soon as I bought it and no matter who's advice I took or what I did, I was constantly seeing stars. I tried rolling the nose tightly all to one side and going to the back, I tried nothing with the nose, I tried splitting the nose, I rolled the tail unbelievably tight and still the openings stunk. After an opening where the slider came down fast enough to rip the rubber stops and put a rip in the slider and wrap itself around my face, so all I saw was the orange slider (nice backdrop for the stars), I got rid of it and bought a spectre 150, and will never look back.”

“I have had one extremely hard opening that about broke me in half,”


”Most of the openings on Sabres are ok, but it's those slammers! One in every 70 or so jumps, no matter how carefully you've packed, even if you've packed exactly the same as the last 70 pack jobs they can bite. I had one opening on my Sabre 135 that was so hard I thought I had broken a rib! . I could give you plenty of examples of experiences friends of mine have had with bad Sabre openings... by and large the openings on the Sabre are fine but when they bite they're nasty!”

“Used to fly a Sabre, and the openings where so bad I had no intentions of ever buying another one”

“I jumped my 170 Sabre for about 40 times until I realized that my neck could handle about 50 more openings.”

“harder than the saber i used to fly and that spanked me on a regular basis.”


“This was welcome from the ever surprising Sabre slam that comes when you least expect it. “

I have read a lot af complaints about the openings of the Sabre. I'm flying my sabre 150 for a few weeks/months now and have never had a hard opening. I really can't say that my packing technique is good, since I'm a beginner to the skydiving world.

I think sabre is a great canopy for beginners. I went from a manta 260 to a sabre 150 (after 40 jumps), without a problem. I love my sabre 150 and I am going to have a lot of FUN with this canopy. SABRE RULES

Bought a used Sabre 150 straight off of student status, against the advice of my DZO. He was wrong, this ride is 'all o that' Could be because I went from a Manta 288 to a Sabre 150 about 160 jumps ago, but this wing has treated me well. Just ordered a brand new Stiletto 135, definately happy with PD....Blue, Clear Ones

I love my Sabre 190. Even at a relativly light wing load(1.1-1), the handling is crisp, with good penetration into high winds. I've wrung the s**t out of this canopy and it's forgiven me every time. Stable in deep brakes, excellent stall recovery, smooth and predictable on rizer inputs, and a huge flare, I'd recomend it to anyone looking for their first sport canopy.
Openings were problematic at first, but a quick trip to my rigger(new brake lines) and some packing tips(roll, roll, roll the nose and pull slider forward all the way) got everything sorted out.
Downsize? Naw, I'm still loving my Sabre.

I have been jumping my sabre 170 for most of my 260 jumps. Alot of people complain of hard openings,but I haven't had this problem. My rigger sewed a small lip along the leading edge of my slider to catch a little air and slow the openings.It has worked wonderfully,and is cheaper than buying a new slider.
As for the flight characteristics, one could not ask for a better first canopy.It is extremely predictable, has no bad habits, and, with a higher wing loading and a skilled pilot,will perform superb high performance landings.Let's not lose sight of the fact that just a decade ago, this was a state of the art high performance canopy.
I would highly recommend this canopy to anyone looking for an inexpensive alternative to today's high priced canopies.One can buy a used sabre with low jump numbers for less than half of the going rate of a new canopy. Think about it,inexpensive reliability,predictability, and performance.

I now have purchased my 1st rig, with a 150 Sabre... I like it but the performance (glide rate, air speed) is not very actual.
It is nevertheless a good wing which I would recommend to people with 50 jumps depending on their canopy control faculties.

I have well over 300 jumps on my Sabre 170 manufactered in 1999. After refining my packing, testing all variables and talking to as many people as possible I finally requested a larger slider for my canopy from PD. My original slider measured 23 x 31 inches. I called PD and asked them about getting a larger slider. They were so easy to work with and continue to have incredible customer service. Within 2 weeks I had a larger slider 26 x 31" and this has solved my problems. I can actually watch the canopy open, and the speed is quite comfortable. I've tested it during hop-n-pops, and barely out of a track deployments. With almost 100 jumps with the new slider I've had no problems. Any canopy from PD is worth buying, knowing they stand behind their product.
-Rapper

Lots of u guys out there r trying to blame your hard Sabre openings on the pack job... i dunno. I've been jumping a Sabre 150 loaded at 1.25 for some time now and consistently TRASH PACK the mother, leaving everything hanging. No tucking or rolling or anything and I NEVER EVER had an opening that hurt, sure sometimes it does a 360 or uses a lot of time to open??? hehe but I seriously doubt that there is a more forgiving canopy (when it comes to 2minute packjobs) than my Sabre.
:-)))

I have read allot of these reviews and once again allot of the problems people have are from packing errors not the canopy.I have approximately 1,100 total jumps on sabre 150's and sabre 135's and have experienced a handful of rather brisk openings and 2 of them were excruciating and kept me from jumping for the rest of the day.
Again i can attribute these to packing errors. Of these 1100 jumps i have probably only packed 300 of them and none of my packjobs hurt me at all.i can only guess that the remaining 800 packjobs were done by up to 30 different packers with thousands to only hundreds of packjobs and with all those variables once again it is a packing issue more than a canopy issue.
make sure the slider is at the stops all the way.
quarter the slider and pull toward the front.
stow the lines tightly.
stuff the nose into the middle.
i do not roll the nose at all/ and i think P.D. doesn't recomend rolling it either.(check with them/your packing manual.

I love the performance of the sabre and it is still one of the best canopies on the market.fun/reliable/rugged

I load my Saber to 1.3 and when it is open it flys great. Openings are not so great. In my opinion it would be one thing if it opened hard all the time or soft all the time but it does not. Some openings are good others are not. The problem with the incosistancy is that it is hard to develp a feel for trouble. For example when you actually have a decent opening if feels like a streamer. But enough about that. After it is open if is cool. I would definatly recomend one as a first canopy. They are fun, can swoop a little, and are easy to land. All and all a good canopy.

I jump a 2000 Sabre 150 (@1.35), I've also owned a 1996 190. Sabre's are very, very popular canopys at my DZ in Australia - you can always easily buy or sell one.

The 190 was for me a great beginners canopy, extremly forgiving - the flair would never stop. It would get you back from the longest spots, although your arms would ache! Always soft openings, 500ft.

The 150 performs just dandy. You can have some real fun with nice landings. It is forgiving enough to have saved me from my pilot errors. 50% of openings are nice, 500ft. 40% are 'crisp', 400ft. 10% are utter crap, 150 up. Pack carefully, handle the wraped up slider as you would an atomic bomb - as thats what it is! Let the thing slip everywhere then shove in the bag; You will be sorry.

Don't let the rep of hard openings deter you from a Sabre, but you must pack carefully and read the packing manual.

I own a Sabre 120 - tons of fun to fly on the risers as well as toggles. It's got a steeper glide slope than some, but actually very forgiving as long as you fly it using your brain. Had one extremely hard opening (due to some losse line stows). I now simply replace the rubber bands VERY OFTEN. Haven't had a problem since with it. Definitely a speedy little canopy, as well as pretty "swoopy" for a square. I weight 165 lbs out the door, so the wing loading isn't too bad. Just fly your Sabre with some respect and you'll have a lot of fun with it.

I like the Sabre, once it is opened. I think I pack it consistently every time, but about 75% of the time, I get these opening that make me flinch and tighten up every muscle in my body in fear of the opening. Most Sunday nights, when I am driving home, my neck hurts like I was in a car accident, and I have bruises on the insides of my legs that just shouldn't be there... I have tried everything- rolling the nose 4-4, tight rolling the nose together, tight rolling the tail, stowing my lines tight, etc... Nothing helps, don't know what to say about the opening, but I can't wait until I get my PISA Hornet...

The hard Sabre openings can be solved by replacing the slider with a bigger one. The default slider is way to small. Take a look at http://www.pcprg.com/hardop.htm

With my new slider on my Sabre 170 it opens softly and slowly every time. If I roll the nose it even starts sniveling 1000-1500 ft.

It's a really nice canopy. It flies great and it's very stable. I don't think I will need a newer/faster canopy for many hundreds of jumps.

The best way I can describe this canopy is that it does what you "tell" it to do. It flies straight, turns quickly, and can be a lot of fun while playing with front risers.

As far as landing characteristics are concerned, it is very forgiving with a quick, smooth recovery arc, and I have never been caught "in the corner" doing hook turns (when I would have been with other canopies). Yet my swoops have covered a fair distance, and you can get a lot of lift with minimal toggle pressure. I have found it to be very stable in turbulent conditions, so it's pretty safe.

Openings have been brisk, but I've never been slammed (although I lent my rig to a friend and she said she was). I found it's better to de-arch for a few seconds before deployment with it and then it's fine. I've never had a malfunction, and the openings are pretty much consistently on-heading.

Overall it's a good canopy to enter the ZP world with, which has been said before. Packing is a chore at first, but after a few dozen jumps it gets easier.

I had a Sabre 190 loaded at 1.05/1.1 as my first canopy after the "student" one. I put on it about 110 jumps and now I'm moving down to the "150 class". I'm both very pleased and very annoyed by it. It flies VERY well, and even with such a low loading with pilot chute and slider collapsed it gives me quite a nice swoop. It is also VERY forgiving and easy to recover from nasty situations.

I still haven't understood why on this and bigger sizes Sabres PD install 4 command lines instead of two (with stowing loops only on the external ones). That gave me few problems of loose command lines (thing that's never nice) while packing. I ended up having the loops installed also onto the internal command lines by a rigger.

I've had a very bad opening about every two or three. No matter what I did, tens of rolls everywere or no rolls, spend 1 hour and a half packing it,use the tighest rubber bands ever, it used to hit me. The only things tha helped (a lot, actually) was installing a pilot chute the dimension of a tissue (no more hop-n-pop from then on...) and, best of all, PSYCHO packing it.

At the end of the day, it has been a very good parachute for that phase of my "skidiving learning process". It forced me to learn packing, an be aware and try to understand exactly what was going on during the opening sequence (awareness that a lot of experienced jumpers still don't have) and flying and landing it has always been great fun.

However, I wouldn't suggest it for wing loads a lot higher than that: nowaday on the market there are a lot of more modern and efficient canipies, made with the experience made with million of jumps on parachutes like the sabre.

Blue Skies
Alvi